MIT Solve

Solution & Team Overview

Solution name:

DrugStoc

Short solution summary:

Data-driven, transparent and end-to-end supply chain for essential medicines in emerging Economies

In what city, town, or region is your solution team based?

Lagos, Nigeria

Who is the Team Lead for your solution?

Chibuzo Opara

Which Challenge Area does your solution most closely address?

Respond (Decrease transmission & spread), such as: Optimal preventive interventions & uptake maximization, Cutting through “infodemic” & enabling better response, Data-driven learnings for increased efficacy of interventions

What specific problem are you solving?

In 2016, I lost my Dad who was a professor of Surgery to poor access to his essential medicines. This is not an isolated case, today, less than 10% of 100,000+ health care providers in Nigeria have access to transparent, free flow, and visibility of essential medicines and genuine medical products when they need it the most. According to WHO, this is one of the biggest challenges in the pharmaceutical supply chain in emerging economies.

In Africa for instance, an inefficient and bureaucratic supply system is often plagued by poor procurement practices that make drugs very costly or unavailable to the patients that need them the most.

Likewise, healthcare providers like pharmacies, Patent and Proprietary Medicine Vendors (PPMVs), doctors, maternity and nursing homes struggle with procuring or accessing real-time, transparent and counterfeit-proof medical products.

Added to these are the poor transportation system, a lack of storage facilities for pharmaceutical products and insufficiently regulated leading to a massive influx of fake and substandard medicines to the supply chain, making it difficult for the hard reach, voiceless poor to access quality safe medications.

Who does your solution serve, and what needs of theirs does it address?

Our target audience is Licensed community pharmacies, chain pharmacies, hospitals, clinics, patent and proprietary medicine vendors (PPMVs), Maternity and nursing homes. Through our partners we seek to transform the lives of the lower socio-economic groups across 16 cities and 90 million people in the next 2 years.

What is your solution’s stage of development?

Growth: An initiative, venture, or organisation with an established product, service, or business/policy model rolled out in one or, ideally, several contexts or communities, which is poised for further growth